Senate panel proposes 18 years as minimum age for a girl to marry

ISLAMABAD:Â Â Senate Standing Committee on Interior passed on Monday three bills â€“ including â€˜The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2017â€™ â€“ which seeks to put restriction on marriages, especially of girls below 18 years of age.The Senate panel also passed â€˜The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2017â€™ seeking stringent punishment for misconduct in public by a drunken person. It also passed â€˜The Prevention of Witchcraft Bill, 2017â€™, a first-ever bill of its kind.

â€˜The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill 2017â€™ â€“ moved by Senator Sehar Kamran â€“ invited a lot of debate among members of the panel. The mover informed the panel that the same bill had already been passed by the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Sindh.

She highlighted consequences of early marriages, including the health-related issues, which girls may face after being married at an early age.

Senator Col (retd) Tahir Hussain Mashadi pointed out that the law concerning minimum age for marriage of girls already existed, with 16 years as minimum age. He, however, declared the bill a â€˜very good legislationâ€™ and backed restricting minimum age for marriage of girls to 18 years.

Senator Javed Abbasi and Senator Chaudhary Tanvir opposed the bill as they believed it was against the injunctions of Islam. When the chairman of the standing committee, Rehman Malik, asked for voting, the bills was passed by three to two votes.

The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2017, moved by Senator Chaudhary Tanvir and approved by the panel, seeks punishment for 48 hours detention, seven-day imprisonment and a minimum fine of Rs10,000 on misconduct in public by a drunken person.

The Prevention of Witchcraft Bill, 2017 says witchcraft is prevalent throughout the country and is causing significant harm to people, besides resulting in exploitation especially of vulnerable sections of society.

This bill strives to make the promotion, propagation or performance of witchcraft practices a criminal offence which causes â€˜grave physical or mental harmâ€™.

â€œStringent punishment to those guilty of such offences will ensure effective deterrence, thereby preventing the recurrence of such practices, gradually leading to their eradication,â€ the bill says.

Another bill â€œThe Protection of Rights of Transgender Person Bill, 2017â€ was sent to a sub-committee, headed by Senator Saif, for consideration and submission of a report to the panel within 15 days. Senator Rubina Khalid moved the bill.